WEST LAWN — The last minute seemed like an eternity, during which the Daniel Boone boys were repeatedly unable to put the game away. But the Blazers somehow survived a turnover-filled ending and hung on for a 42-41 Berks County basketball win at Wilson in their regular season finale on Tuesday night, and in the process, clinched a spot in the eight-team league playoffs that begin on Saturday night.

Kenny Worthington led Boone (5-5, 10-12) with 15 points and 8 rebounds, Emmanuel Lacey scored 10, and Stephon Williams added eight points – including what proved to be the winning free throw with a minute and a half remaining. Wilson (7-3, 17-4), which would have wrapped up the Division I title with a win, was led by 13 points by Steven Rodriguez.

As a result, the Blazers – who lost to and defeated each of the other teams in Division I – wrapped up the second playoff wild card spot determined by Power Ratings and will most likely face Wyomissing in a quarterfinal at a time and place to be determined.

“Forever,” was how Blazer coach Ian Gendreau described the final minute or so. “I never thought it was going to end. We went out of our way to give the game away. But the difference between tonight and early in the season was in the last couple of games, we’ve been grinding out those wins.”

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Williams sank two from the line with 1:36 left to give Boone a 42-40 lead after Wilson – which led only once all night – had tied the score for the fifth time. Then the Bulldogs missed a shot and the Blazers rebounded and promptly turned the ball over. That set the pattern for the last 90 seconds as Daniel Boone lost the ball three times, but managed to keep the hosts from scoring a basket.

Bryan Fegley (11 points) eventually brought Wilson to within a point when he hit the first of two from the line with four seconds left. Then Worthington was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1.4 seconds to go, but the Bulldogs could only get off a desperation full-court heave as time ran out.

“The last minute was ridiculous,” said Worthington, who scored eight in the first quarter on 4-for-4 shooting as the Blazers jumped out to a 13-5 lead. “We messed up a few times, but we got the win.”

The Blazers wound up with a 13-10 advantage after a quarter and still led by three at the half at 23-20. Wilson came back to take its only lead of the game at 26-25 on a basket by Rodriguez with 4:55 left in the third quarter. But Lacey quickly countered with a three-point bomb from the right corner and Boone held a 38-32 edge after two free throws by Lacey to open the fourth-quarter scoring.

The Bulldogs came back to tie at 40-40 when Fegley drilled a three-pointer from the top of the circle with 4:43 left, setting up the helter-skelter final half-quarter.

Boone had also beaten the other top two teams in the division – Exeter and Reading High – late in the season.

“It’s very sweet, coming down that stretch, beating those kinds of teams coming into the playoffs,” said Gendreau. “It gives us a lot of confidence. We kind of feel we can beat anybody.

“We kind of feel we got away with one tonight. Wilson (9-for-20 from the line) didn’t have its ‘A’ game and we didn’t play as well as we could have.”

Worthington feels that the Blazers’ focus has improved during the course of the season.

“Really, it’s just focus,” he said. “We had a lead a lot of the way. Earlier in the season we were trying to come from behind. Mental focus for us, and us growing as a team.”

Wilson , which got 12 points and eight rebounds from Travaun Coad, wound up with a 28-27 rebounding edge and turned the ball over just 11 times – including only once in the middle two quarters – but shot just 15-for-44 from the floor. Boone hit 17 of 37 tries from the field and was 7-for-12 from the line with 15 turnovers.

“We’re a strong team,” said Worthington. “We think we can really play with anybody.”

“We feel cautiously optimistic,” Gendreau said concerning his team’s playoff chances. “We feel if we can bring our ‘A’ game, we can knock off one of the top seeds.